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Grant Funding Awarded to Improve Medical Student Health

Studying in the library. Watching a lecture. Practicing examination skills. Medical school is no doubt a grueling and a time consuming experience. Medical students take on this challenge to be physicians who promote the health and well-being of their future patients. Joanne Donoghue, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Osteopathic Medicine, believes that medical school should be a place where students are training to be healthy themselves.

Dr. Donoghue’s research proposal to improve body composition in medical students was just funded by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).

In a previous study conducted here at NYITCOM, an alarming finding was the body fat percentage of incoming medical students. The incoming men had an average body fat percentage of 22.4%. According to ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) demographic data, 80% of the general population of men between 20-29 years of age have a lower body fat percentage than our incoming male medical students(American College of Sports Medicine, 2010). The incoming women had a body fat percentage of 32.1%, which amounts to 90% of women in the general population between 20-29 years of age have a lower body fat percentage than our incoming women medical students. Studies show that physicians who are more active themselves are seen to be more credible sources.

“The goal of our study is to educate incoming overweight medical students on how to improve their own health while educating them on exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle changes to advance their knowledge and implement these skills in future practice,” said Dr. Donoghue.